“It was the worst we’ve seen”: Belle Fourche residents clean up after destructive storms

BELLE FOURCHE, S.D. — Residents in Belle Fourche are cleansing up after a line of destructive storms pushed through Sunday night, bringing excessive winds and huge hail.

Every neighborhood in Belle Fourche has particles in the roads, home windows busted out and vehicles with out windshields.

“It began with a giant black cloud [that came] up over there, and we didn’t pay that a lot consideration to it,” says Gene Embrey, a Belle Fourche resident. “The subsequent factor we knew, the wind [came] up and the hailstones began coming by means of the home windows…and we simply stayed out of the means and [hoped] for the finest.”

Embrey is amongst the Belle Fourche residents coping with main storm particles. His trailer, which sits on Highway 212 simply west of city, is pockmarked with four-inch gashes. The home windows? Gone.

All by means of city, tree particles covers the roads, whereas downed branches line the streets. Residents are out boarding up home windows and cleansing up yards. In the driveways, vehicles — with home windows shattered or lacking fully — head forwards and backwards from the retailer for provides.

As the storm approached, Erica Sowers and her household made it to the basement — and never a minute too quickly.

“The window proper above our stairs being damaged immediately, you recognize, it’s like if we hadn’t gotten down there, that will’ve been a extremely, actually powerful, actually scary state of affairs to attempt to get down the stairs in time,” Sowers says.

Tucked away in the basement, Sowers, her husband, and their younger youngsters prayed. While their home suffered unimaginable harm, they got here out unhurt.

“We have an image of Mary, the Virgin Mary, in our stairwell there,” Sowers says, gesturing to the massive image hanging above the stairs. “We had hail and glass simply all over the place on the stairs, and even the wall was broken, however the image of Mary was untouched. We actually felt like she was watching over us and interceding for us.”

So far there have been no reported accidents.

“We’ve been married for twenty-four years and that is the first accident – first catastrophe – we’ve ever been in, so we’re fairly fortunate,” Embrey says.

The harm left behind exhibiting us the spectacular energy of Mother Nature.

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